Farmers in Himachal Pradesh raise a hue and cry over the ‘unfair’ pricing of apples
Twenty five unions of apple growers in Himachal Pradesh demand the MSP for the fruit to be made legally binding, and the central government to procure apples from them, like it does from the cultivators in Jammu and Kashmir.
Farmers continue to demand that the central government procure apples from Himachal Pradesh like it does from Kashmir.
It is crunch time for apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh as they protested about the drop in the rate of apples. Twenty five farmers’ unions across the state including Shimla, Kullu, Chamba, Manali and other apple growing regions of the state got together under the Sanyukt Kisan Manch and took out protests on September 13.
These farmers are demanding that the minimum rate of the various categories of apples in the mandis be fixed like they are in Jammu and Kashmir. They are also demanding that big companies, such as the Adani group that buys large quantities of apples at wholesale from the state’s farmers, should be made accountable as they were exploiting farmers by offering a very low rate for the fruit produce.
Also Read: Apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh blame the Adani Group for plummeting apple prices
The rumblings of protests began in Himachal Pradesh when on August 24, Adani Agri Fresh Ltd, part of the Adani group of companies, fixed the rate of apples that had an impact on the price of the fruit in the mandis of Himachal too.
The new rate was sixteen rupees less than the last year’s rate and hence there was a corresponding slump in the mandis of the state, causing distress among the cultivators.
However, since then, the rates have been raised. “In response to the farmers’ objection to the price fixed by them, Agri Fresh hiked the rate by an additional two rupees in September. The rate is now seventy four rupees a kilo as against the earlier seventy two rupees a kilo,” Harish Chauhan, coordinator of Himachal Pradesh’s Sanyukt Kisan Manch, told Gaon Connection. These rates were fixed for the period September 10-12.
However the farmers continue to demand that the central government procure apples from Himachal Pradesh like it does from Kashmir.
“We want that the rate of apples should be fixed like it is in Kashmir, where the A, B and C categories of apples are priced at sixty, forty and twenty four rupees a kilogram respectively,” said Chauhan.
A memorandum has been presented to Jai Ram Thakur, the chief minister of the state demanding that the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) laws be strictly implemented in the mandis of the state, he said.
There was also an appeal for an open bid in the mandis and a stop to illegal extortion from the farmers, by way of unregulated labour charges, bank charges, and so on. Prompt payment of money by the buyers and the middlemen was also demanded, and if the payment was not made by them on time, they should be penalised, said the protesting farmers.
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The apple farmers have faced a barrage of problems with a rise in the cost of packaging material. They also demanded that the government compensate those farmers who suffered damages to their crop due to hailstorms, snowfall, drought and other natural disasters.
Upsetting the applecart
On August 24, Agri Fresh announced the prices for the apples it would buy in the first phase of the season. To the consternation of the farmers, Agri Fresh reduced the cost of apples by Rs 16 a kg.
Last year, the category A apples were priced at Rs 88 a kg, but this year they were priced at Rs 72 a kg. With the input costs going up so much, especially the price of diesel, it was untenable that the price of apples be decreased instead of being hiked, the farmers complained. Adani Agri Fresh had fixed the apple rates till August 29.
This is the peak apple season in Himachal Pradesh, when the farmers hope to make some profits on their produce. However, with the price fixed by Agri Fresh that was also quickly adopted by other companies, there was a slump in prices in the mandis too, the farmers pointed out.
“While the best quality apples have been priced at seventy two rupees a kilo, the cheapest ones have been priced at twelve rupees a kilo. Farmers have a mixed bag of apples and on an average they get anything between thirty to fifty rupees a kilo,” Lokendra Bisht, president, Progressive Growers Association India, which includes apple orchard owners, told Gaon Connection.
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The apple farmers are also incensed at the fact that in season these big companies buy apples from them at cheap rates that they then keep in their cold storages at Revali, Kully and Rohru to sell later around March/April, at much higher rates.
“The apples that were bought from the farmers at no more than fifty rupees a kilo are sold by Adani after three to four months for as much as two hundred rupees a kilo,” Bisht pointed out. He said all that Agri Fresh needed to do in order to help out the farmers was increase the rate they paid them by at least Rs 3 to Rs 4 a kilo. “This will not hurt their profits at all, but will make a huge difference to the farmers,” Bisht said.
“Packaging prices have gone up significantly. Last year, each carton cost us up to fifty five rupees. This year it has gone up to seventy rupees,” Prashanth Sehta, an apple orchard owner, told Gaon Connection. “The apple trays have gone up from four rupees fifty paise to nearly six rupees. Even cardboard has gone up by ten rupees,” he added.
Need for the central government to step in
While the Himachal Pradesh government buys apples through the Himachal Pradesh Marketing Corporation (HPMC), it only procures the damaged C grade ones that are processed into juices and jams. This time the government has bought the apples at Rs 9.50 a kilo (previously the government procured it at Rs 9 a kilo). “This is a huge support for the apple growers by the state government, but we want the central government to also procure from us like it does from Jammu and Kashmir,” Bisht explained.
The central government procures the apples from Jammu and Kashmir through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED). It fixes the cost of apples depending on the grade between Rs 24 and Rs 64 a kilo. “Farmers trust the government to do the right thing by them and they are happy to go with the price it fixes,” Bisht said, and that is what the Himachal Pradesh farmers desired, he added.
अडानी एग्री फ्रेश द्वारा 10-12 सितंबर के लिए जारी रेट, जिसमें सुप्रीम क्वालिटी के सेब की कीमत 74 रुपए फिक्स की गई है।
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A big chunk of the state’s population is involved directly or indirectly with the apple industry that generates about Rs 60,000 million per annum. According to official figures there are 200,000 hectares of land under apple cultivation in the state. It is estimated that this year the state will produce about 40 million crates of apples (each crate holds 25 kgs). Last year, 32.5 million crates of apples were harvested. But farmers say they have little to look forward to, as even the big companies such as Adani buy no more than two million crates of the apples.
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